easy to use. it's the ultimate combination of speed, small size, and low-cost printing. >>> welcome back. ready, set, shop. consumers are set to kick off the holiday shopping condition tomorrow night. steve liesman is looking at just how much they're planning to spend. steve, over to you. >> thanks, maria. if you want to know if consumers are going to spend this christmas, you have to know if they have the means and if they're in the mood to spend. let's take in some key consumer metrics heading into the holiday season. first, we're going to look at home prices. in 2011 at this time before christmas, home prices were falling by 6%. now they're rising by almost 11%. let's take a look now at wages. they were up 3.5% in the year before last christmas. now they're up a little bit more. inflation, of course, takes off some of that. in fact, they are still negative, but less negative than a year ago. how about another key metric, which is consumer sentiment this is 20 points higher. we're going to have